GOOD MORNING! I hope everyone had as nice a weekend as we did. The weather was gorgeous and I was able to get a few projects accomplished and a little weeding done as well as the regular chores.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW & THE WEATHER OUTSIDE & WHAT I’M WEARING – WOW I know it’s a BIG surprise, but it’s raining! LOL 😀 The weekend was GORGEOUS! We even hit 68 most of Saturday. That’s over though as this morning is gray, cloudy, foggy and rainy too! I have on Levi’s, a long sleeve Life is Good Tee and flip flops LOL I’m getting my toes done so I’m stuck with those until I get home! 😀

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE – Having a bit of an issue again so we’re back to baby food. Today is Carrot Apple Pineapple – It’s actually not bad – I love these squeeze packs 😀 Tea is bothering me again so I’m back to hot water instead of tea also.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE/WEEKLY TO DO LIST & HOUSE PROJECTS/CRAFT BASKET/APPOINTMENTS

LAUNDRY… just 1 load

LIVING AREAS… dust, vacuum

KITCHEN… deep clean

YARD… fence repairs continue, weeding

BLOG… recipe updating

CRAFTS/PROJECTS… nothing this week

APPOINTMENTS… just a couple

TO DO… errands and groceries today – making a list for the rest of the week

ON MY MIND / THINGS THAT ARE MAKING ME HAPPY

I’M READING I just finished the 2nd book in a series that doesn’t have another ready and I probably won’t return to even when they do and had yet to choose a new one – just too tired at night to actually get any reading done. Then I found one of my favorite series that is a crossover to a 2nd series that I thought had ended has a “transition” book leading to a 3rd new series. What I love is that even during the dozen books from the first series there were subtle references to this and direct links to the 2nd series. Her crossovers and seamless and the characters end up blending together so well you sometimes forget which series they belong to.

WHAT IS ON THE DVR, I LIKE OR ON THE LIST TO WATCH There still isn’t a ton to watch, but I did get a few more old movies watched as well as one I’d never even heard of despite the big names in it.

Easter is going to be late this year! Do you ever wonder how the date is decided? Well, let me tell you what I found with a little research.

Unlike Christmas, the date of Easter Sunday changes every year and can fall anytime between March 22nd and April 25th. Why is this you ask?

Because Easter Sunday is decided by complex calculations based on the moon. Early on in Christianity different churches used different methods. This led to disagreements that still exist today in some cultures.

Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus which according to the Bible happened around the same time as Jewish Passover. Passover typically begins the night of the first FULL moon AFTER the spring equinox (usually March 20th or 21st) EXCEPT in months when it is the SECOND full moon. This most recently occurred in 2016. The FULL moon can vary in each time zone so the Church calculates Easter from the 14th day of the ecclesiastic lunar month which is known as the paschal full moon. Easter is the Sunday that follows the paschal full moon that falls on or after the equinox so can be from 1-7 days later.

In 1818 the full moon fell on the equinox, Saturday March 21, so Easter was the next day, March 22. Easter will not be this early again until the year 2285. The earliest recent Easter was March 23 in 2008. In 1943 a full moon fell on March 20, just before the equinox, so the paschal full moon was the next one on April 18 which was a Sunday so Easter was seven days later on April 25. It will not be this late again until 2038. The latest recent Easter was April 23 in the year 2000.

This year Good Friday will be April 19th and Easter Sunday will be April 21st. You can find a table for upcoming Easter Sundays here.

So, I have to check with everyone else in the family, but I’m leaning towards a menu of a Lemon Blueberry French Toast Casserole for Brunch and a Baked Ham with Cherry Sauce, Honey Coffee Roasted Carrots, Fluffy Mashed Potatoes and Potato Yeast Rolls for dinner.

Whisk together the cornstarch and water until smooth. Add to cooking juices, stirring to blend.

Cover and cook on HIGH (about 30 minutes) until gravy is thickened.

NOTES:
**The original recipe was for slow cooking, but I prefer the oven unless I’m going to be gone all day. If I use the oven I DO NOT quarter it. If using the oven adjust the roasting time to 2-3 hours of covered and undisturbed roasting with the potatoes and carrots.

The original recipe had you slicing the onions thin. BUT, if you halve it root to tip and then wedge it you not only get thin pieces, you also get MORE flavor when you cut the onion in this direction.

The original recipe did NOT call for browning the meat, but I find you get a juicier roast with more flavor if you do so when roasting in the oven.

The original recipe from Taste of Home called for a whole roasting chicken, but I’ve adapted it a more user friendly way of not only roasting, but also serving and eating. This chicken becomes a rich, buttery and juicy bite that is only complemented by each bite of fluffy mashed potatoes and fragrant champagne gravy.

Winter seemed never ending this year! So what did we do? We made MORE soup! While we were on a trip to the coast I had the most amazing soup at McMeniman’s Sand Trap at their Gearhart Hotel. So, I came home and set to recreating it. The re-creation is so close I feel like I’m back in front of the fire enjoying their soup and a cocktail!

GOOD MORNING I hope everyone had a wonderful week and is ready to jump into this last week of March wit both feet. I had a good week, but am still a bit under the weather with a couple new issues (low blood pressure coupled with low blood sugar) that make too much activity an issue so have not accomplished as much as I had hoped to. Here’s hoping this week will be better. So let’s get right to it.

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW & THE WEATHER OUTSIDE & WHAT I’M WEARING Well it seems that the false spring that sprung last week for a couple days is over. It started raining again on Friday and the temperature dropped back down so we are cold, damp and dreary again for the most part. I have on Levis, a long sleeve purple t-shirt and gray pops. I will be adding at least one sweatshirt when I venture out as it is currently in the 40’s with a breeze.

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE Blueberry bagel and cream cheese with hot water

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE, WEEKLY TO DO LIST, HOUSE & CRAFT PROJECTS, APPOINTMENTS

LAUNDRY… just a couple loads of t-shirts and jeans

LIVING AREAS… a little dusting and vacuuming

KITCHEN… clean 😀

YARD… fence repairs continue as rain allows

BLOG… a couple recipe updates

CRAFTS/PROJECTS… ???

APPOINTMENTS… a couple doctor follow ups

TO DO… make appointment with primary to discuss new health issues, a little organizing, a couple appointments…

ON MY MIND When I was young my grandmother, who was extremely set in her ways, taught me that a load of laundry should never be more than 8 pounds. Honestly I never really paid attention to her and have done just fine. I know the concept of weighing laundry sounds really odd and recently I decided to actually look this up and see WHY??? I found this article that will make you tired just reading about all the work our ancestors went through to do a load of laundry! Evidently the “OLDER” machines manuals would call for weighing the load so you didn’t put a strain on the motor.

And why oh why do grocery checkers and baggers NOT know how to bag groceries?? Twice last week at 2 DIFFERENT stores items they tried to put on the bottom of the bag belonged on the top! You have to watch with an eagle eye these days to avoid smashed bread, eggs and delicate herbs! The first time the checker put my Italian parsley and bananas on the bottom of the bag and was going to put the bags of potatoes, onions and oranges on top of those. I don’t know about you, but I do NOT like bruised bananas or herbs. Another time the bagger put the eggs and bread in a bag together which was great and then she was going to put a couple gatorades and BAI water bottles on top!

I’M READING I’m trying to get into the current book, but have been trouble reading at night – hopefully this week goes better.

WHAT IS ON THE DVR, I LIKE OR ON THE LIST TO WATCH Just a few shows as basketball is playing havoc with the current shows being new. There is Seal Team from last week and a couple cooking shows. I did see a couple more “CLASSIC” movies that I’d never seen before. The most interesting was Lost Horizon about Shahgr-La by Frank Capra (It’s A Wonderful Life) starring Ronald Coleman.

FAVORITE PHOTO Remember that trip I told you we took to get away from the snow a few weeks ago? We went to the beach for hubby’s birthday and guess what? It snowed there too 😀 The house faces the ocean.

It just doesn’t get much better than that these mouth watering warm cinnamon sugar rolls that pull apart into soft and flaky layers after being smothered in a sweet vanilla glaze. Because of my inability to eat sugar these days I skip the glaze, but they are just as good!

I think I’m almost down to 2½ sides…and I’m FINALLY taking back my life… actually CHASING MY LIFE.

IT IS WHAT IT IS!

I'll ALWAYS be 3 Sides of Crazy cooking in OUR Krazy Kitchen at my Savory Kitchen Table and ALWAYS Eating on the Good China but counting down to normal ~ WHATEVER THAT IS!

I love to cook, read, write, quilt, craft, go antiquing, amateur photography and to learn new things. I’m a Jill of many trades & always have more interests and desires than I have time. LOL I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I love being a homemaker and keeping my family healthy and happy.

As a Christian woman I believe life is all about change and that learning to cope with it as it happens will help you through life. I believe in Murphy’s Law, the Domino Effect, Payback’s a Bitch, and Karma. I also believe that Pay It Forward and living by the Golden Rule go a long way to keep the former from happening to begin with. I believe everything happens for a reason and that life is one big adventure.

I try to see life through rose colored glasses and be as tolerant as possible. My glass is always half full. I am an optimist, extremely positive minded and usually a really upbeat person so anything goes within reason.

I especially love to cook and develop new recipes. I have written a couple of cookbooks for family reunions that I’m working on getting published and have new cook books in the works.